MovieChat Forums > Resurrection (2022) Discussion > Don't know about others, but so tired of...

Don't know about others, but so tired of movie trope of refusing to tell what is known...

posted 2 years ago by [deleted]
25 replies | jump to latest

It seems like there is a huge checklist of possible movie tropes to exploit and how many of them are pure lazy ways to tell stories.

For example, where all the character has to do is tell the truth or full story and refuses to do so and especially when there is no articulable reason why the truth or full story can't be told - as in this movie.

These writers need to knock off the use of the movie trope checklist because all it does is expose lazy writing.

[–] HarlemEagle42 (17735) 2 years ago

What I don't like only because it's so common now is the movie beginning halfway through the story thus relying on one big flashback in the first act.

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

I don't know about you, but it's like too many of these creators tell themselves they need some sort of gimmick to tell a story - like what you mention, the overused out of sequence trick - when a regular linear telling of the story would work just fine.

Now, I'm not saying these styles never work or shouldn't be used, but too many overuse them.

[–] Strazdas (2472) 2 years ago

Because thats what they are taught. "defying expectations" are built into moviemakers education now, even if that expectation is to see a good movie.

[–] sslssg (34211) 2 years ago

I sort of disagree with you. If this movie was linear, and told us exactly what was happening, I don't think it would have worked. Perhaps the unreliable narrator is overused, but if we started with the relationship when they were younger, there would be no intrigue. I think the whole point of this is not to know if any of it is real. So if you take that away, what do you have?

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

My OP was not about this movie's non- linear story telling and only brought up to illustrate its too often use elsewhere. My complaint was how they used the character refusing to tell trope ineffectively.

[–] sslssg (34211) 2 years ago

Sorry, I was combining both the OP and your comment to HarlemEagle in my response to you.

I still stand by my comment about the point being not to know what is real and what isn't. I understand that it can be frustrating, but when movies are left ambiguous they stick in our minds more. They are debated and talked about. American Psycho is still discussed because of that.

These writers need to knock off the use of the movie trope checklist because all it does is expose lazy writing.

Which tropes are you speaking of?

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

Here are just a few off the top of my head:

The interrupting cell phone call....
The cell phone "no signal" or dead battery....
The teen daughter (or son) that is super intelligent but makes horrible decisions or does incredibly stupid things....
When running in the woods the tripping root or knock out tree branch...
The police officer shot and then ripping off a shirt to reveal a bullet-resistant vest...
The cops that are in a police building and get the emergency call and rush to the scene instead of calling for a cop car on patrol and still beat everyone else there....
The racking of a handgun or shotgun just before the action....
The boy/girl seeks boy/girl, finds boy/girl, loses boy/girl, re-seeks boy/girl, re-locates boy/girl....

I know there are many more, but these are the ones that jump out...

[–] sslssg (34211) 2 years ago

How many of those were in this movie? I guess I'm just confused as to what you are actually complaining about here. Was is just the ambiguity?

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

Oh, sorry. The complaint I had in the OP deals with how creators drag a story out with a character that will never reveal the truth or full story, especially when withholding that information really has no impact. Just like in this movie. To me, there never was a compelling reason articulated for the mother not to tell her daughter the full story and in this case I felt it was just a lazy way to portray conflict.

[–] sslssg (34211) 2 years ago

I guess I just looked at the film as art depicting mental illness, specifically how trauma can affect us, even years later. When we first meet Margaret she has it all together. I think it's supposed to make us think about how we don't know what others have been through, and what they have happening underneath their façade. Also how quickly the smallest thing can topple one's mental house of cards. I don't think that this movie was supposed to make narrative sense.

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

I understand your points. I just felt that the lack of a compelling reason for her not to tell her daughter about this man and what he was doing until she did created a flick where you are yelling at the screen, "Just TELL her!"

It would have been completely different if say she had a more causal impact on what happened - like getting drunk and passing out that would lead to what happened or some sort of extreme neglect that she was deeply ashamed of.

It's sort of like the dreaded pause and not telling between two characters - you know, where one says, "tell me or I'm leaving" and the other character wants to tell but just stammers and doesn't and out the door the person goes.

[–] sslssg (34211) 2 years ago

I think trauma can rear it's head in many ugly ways. Perhaps she didn't tell her daughter because David wasn't real. At least this version of David.

[–] Strazdas (2472) 2 years ago

If you can only produce intrigue by lying to the audience, you arent good at writing intrigue.

[–] 123Guy (7260) 2 years ago

it's almost as if most viewers are too stupid to recognize this

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

People of stupid strike again 😱

[–] Ant1238 (908) 2 years ago

Does that really apply here though? About midway through the movie, she reveals the entire truth to her intern, with every single detail fully spelled out.

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

Yes, it does because for the entire show she refuses to tell the most important person to her the truth and if she had done that things would have been entirely different. But again, that would have taken a bit more effort from the writers. There simply was not a compelling reason for her not to tell her daughter. Thus, the usage of the overused trope.

[–] Ant1238 (908) 2 years ago

Would it really have changed anything though? He never did anything else to her daughter.

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

I think the clear implication was he was going to move on to the daughter if she did not comply.

[–] sslssg (34211) 2 years ago

Again, I don't think you really understand trauma. There are people who suffer through it all on their own and will not tell those who they love and who they are closest it at all. They don't want them to know. That isn't lazy writing. That is reality.

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

You know nothing about me and to make such a claim is sort of insulting.

Besides this is a MOVIE. And it was lazy writing because all the writer had to do was add just one more element to the mother's character to make her behavior fit and that would have been very easy to do. Instead, they drug out a behavior simply to create tension, which for me only became frustration. Thus, the usage of the failure of a character to reveal the truth trope as a storytelling device.

[–] sslssg (34211) 2 years ago

I said what I said about trauma because we've had a conversation already and you've completely ignored it in your responses.

You want her behavoiur to "fit" Fit what? Fit your expectation of a broken woman, with a traumatic past, who is pretending that everything is great? It's absolutely fine that you didn't like this movie. I understand not liking the character as well as her behaviour. That's not an issue.

Thus, the usage of the failure of a character to reveal the truth trope as a storytelling device.

You keep saying that this is storytelling. I'm trying to say that this isn't just a trope. This is something that happens all the time in real life. So, you can call it a real life trope if you want, but it's not something that writers just "make up" just to create tension. Is it frustrating? Possibly. It is also frustrating in real life too.

So again, you can dislike this movie all you want, but I completely disagree that it's because the writers were lazy. The way you mention tropes, I don't know how you can watch a movie, tv show, or read a book. Not everything that you dislike is actually a movie trope.

[–] Strazdas (2472) 2 years ago

I dont think it matters than a small amount of people who suffer trauma refuses to talk about it. All this portrayal does in the movie is make Margaret look like a fool making the worst decisions.

[–] HarlemEagle42 (17735) 2 years ago

I had a huge problem with that too. Not sure why you're getting flack for it. No way would she not had at some point told her daughter about David.

[–] Strazdas (2472) 2 years ago

The reliance on unreliable narrator to hide poor writing has always been a way of poor writers. Unfortunately this keeps happening.